Clearing cache question

[KarraSue]

I need to clear My SL cache, as I've not done it in a few months. My questions are::

1: Can I do this when logged on to SL? if so,How?

2: Will I lose any inventory items doing this

3: Will I see better performance,and less lagging?

 

 

[Alwin Alcott]

1 yes, click clearing cache in your preferences

2 no

3 no, it's useless to do if you do not have serious inventory or rezzing problems, keep your cache intact if you not have problems  like that, it's no miracle tool as so many believe!

[KarraSue]

Main problems I have are when I am at some various sims, with many people I lag badly, sometimes crashing

[Zsigmond Alcott]

Well there are many types of lag. Server side and Client side. A lot of peolpe claim as you do about certian busy SIMS lagging. Most times that is client side or system/connection issues. As far as your cache question Alwan is correct. Only do it as a last resort if having rezzing issues. Read here to trouble shoot and/or understand "lag" ---> http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Lag

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

The only real time to worry about your cache is when you start seeing stuff like eyeball textures in the trees or jackets in the sky.  All regardless of any given sim.  And, even then, I consider clearing cache to be a 'last resort' action. ()

If anything, clearing cache actually creates a temporary moment of lag while your client re-downloads all the typically perma-cached assets... Like your inventory.  With a big inventory, that's something which can take up to 4 or 5 minutes. (>_<)

I've observed over time that people who consistently saw gains when clearing cache were actually dealing with computer and moreso hard drive issues.  With these hard drive issues, much of their cache would get corrupted due to the steady stream of reads and writes.  In their case clearing cache was putting a bandaid on a broken leg.  To truly resolve their issues, they'd have to replace their drive or opt to using a RAM drive dedicated to cache.  Since my system has an SSD, I go the RAM drive route.  ()y

[Perrie Juran]

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KarraSue wrote:

Main problems I have are when I am at some various sims, with many people I lag badly, sometimes crashing

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You might be better served by turning down your graphics settings a notch ot two before going to a crowded SIM and thereby reducing the load on your computer.

It is highly unlikely your cache is a culprit here.

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Imnotgoing Sideways wrote:

If anything, clearing cache actually creates a temporary moment of lag while your client re-downloads all the typically perma-cached assets... Like your inventory.  With a big inventory, that's something which can take up to 4 or 5 minutes. (>_<)

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Take a look at the actual inventory files on your PC, you'll find they're tiny. I don't think the viewer is downloading anything more than the text descriptions and organizing information (like UUID and folder structure, etc) for inventory. The inventory object themselves stay on the server until rezzed.

I have 10K items in my inventory and my inventory file is 145 kilobytes. I've watched my bandwidth meter after cache flushes and inventory rebuilds continue long after the bandwidth has dropped to the background level. The slowness of rebuilding inventory lists feels like a server issue to me. But, regardless of the cause of the sluggishness, a cache flush will cause it.

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

I know.  It still impacts the client and server during the process.  I have 74K and what few times I've cleared cache have resulted in my inventory reloading at a rate of only about 200 to 300 items per second.  The inventory asset is very small in file size, but, huge in resource usage when being transferred from server to client.  ()y

 

 

[KarraSue]

Before I log onto SL, I always turn off My antivirus while I am online. My computer is in good shape, with enough resources.

[Bobbie Faulds]

Clearing cache is like using a shotgun to kill a roach. The ONLY thing your cache does is store textures...If you max that number, you generally won't have a problem. Old days the standard fix for everything was clear your cache. All that does is force you to make new connections to everything, not fix the underlying problems.

Chances are, the "lag" you have is client side, not server.  If you do ctrl-shift-1 you can see the sim FPS. If it is higher than 40, the sim is in good shape. You'll see your personal FPS as well. If that is low and the sim is fine, you have client side. First turn your graphics and your bandwidth down. You really don't need it much higher than 800 or so...Increasing it can actually make things worse. Think of SL pumping out the info at a certain rate..like water in a hose. Increasing your bandwidth is just like running that garden hose into a 12 inch pipe...the flow actually slows down, not speeds up. Also turn down your particles to below 1000 or so. You can also adjust how many avatars you render at a time on your graphics page. You only need to see the nearest 10 or so. Same for your draw distance...dial it down to 120 meters. You don't need to see the next sim over, only what's near you.

[Ohjiro Watanabe]

In a crowded sim try this:

In Preferences/Graphics turn down the performance to Mid. Set the Draw distance to 64. Set Max # of non-impostor avatars to 15.

You are better off if you are sitting. That includes sitting on a dance ball, anything will do as long as you have to right click and select sit (or dance or what ever the option is). If you are walking around the server has more work to do keeping track of you. If you are sitting the server knows where you are so doesn't have to bother.